06: Expansion and Sectionalism

Events organized at Harpers Ferry in 1906 and 1959 typified this duality by presenting to the public disparate interpretations of John Brown.

The first casualty occurred sometime around 1:30 am on October 17 when a raider shot and killed Heyward Shepherd, a free African American working as a porter for the B&O Railroad.

In 1906 the leaders of the Niagara Movement – precursor to the NAACP – chose to host their second annual meeting at Storer College, a historically black college in Harpers Ferry. I

“The Spirit of John Brown,” Ransom framed Brown’s actions within a religious context.<a href="applewebdata://1DE8DFA0-0973-4F57-800F-7C22784656C6#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6">[6]</a> Ransom proclaimed: “He was commissioned by the same authority and bore the same credentials as did Moses. […] he delivered a blow against slavery in the most vital part, and fired the gun whose opening shot echoed the sound of the death knell of slavery.”<a href="applewebdata://1DE8DFA0-0973-4F57-800F-7C22784656C6#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7">[7]</a> By referencing the influence of God as the reason for the raid, Ransom enforced the significance of religion in Brown’s life and challenged the assumption that insanity drove him to lead the raid.

Du Bois presented a resounding speech that projected the demands of the movement and urged members to harness the spirit of John Brown and his fellow raiders. In the conclusion of his speech, Du Bois said, that “we do not believe in violence, but we do believe in John Brown, and here on the scene of John Brown’s martyrdom we reconsecrate ourselves, our honor, and our property to the final emancipation of the race which John Brown died to make free.”

President Eisenhower approved a joint resolution for the establishment of the Civil War Centennial Commission (CWCC) in 1957.

he questions posed by NPS Staff Historian, J. Walter Coleman reinforced the CWCC’s disregard and contempt for the legacy of Brown. Some of the questions Coleman asked included: why did men follow John Brown on such a reckless scheme with no promise of results, should John Brown have been declared insane, and why did mainstream New Englanders fund his ventures.<a href="applewebdata://1DE8DFA0-0973-4F57-800F-7C22784656C6#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18">[18]</a>

The contrasting interpretations of John Brown’s Raid presented in 1906 and 1959 elucidates the enduring controversy over who can claim this hallowed ground and how historical events associated with the space appear within public memory.

Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina and the sugar plantations of Louisiana will ultimately be tilled by free labor, and Charleston and New Orleans become markets of legitimate merchandise alone, or else the rye fields and wheat fields of Massachusetts and New York must again be surrendered by their farmers to slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York become once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of men

When I have seen it surrounded by the flags of foreign countries, the pulsations of my heart have beat quicker with every breeze which displayed its honored stripes and brilliant constellation. I have looked with venera­tion on those stripes as recording the original size of our po­litical family and with pride upon that constellation as mark­ing the family's growth; I glory in the position which Missis­sippi's star holds in the group; but sooner than see its lustre dimmed—sooner than see it degraded from its present equality—would tear it from its place to be set even on the perilous ridge of battle as a sign round which Mississippi's best and bravest should gather to the harvest-home of death.

In addition to using enslaved labor at the White House, Polk secretly purchased enslaved people and separated children aged ten through seventeen from their families while in office.

After Congress passed the Indian Removal Act and <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/fotoware?id=0573C43CECF64983%2097F6D3859319FD56" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">President Andrew Jackson</a> forced the Choctaw Nation off their land in northern Mississippi in 1830, one in a series of forced relocations which became known as the Trail of Tears, Polk joined the rush of speculators to purchase the vacant land.

he used profits from his Mississippi plantation to purchase an additional nineteen enslaved people during his time in the White House. These enslaved people were purchased through several agents in Tennessee and shipped to Polk’s Mississippi plantation.